Warner Home Video
Release date: August 21st, 2012
After seven seasons, Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson (Kyra Sedgwick) has decided to call it a day. Brenda is a CIA trained interigator that moved from Georgia to Los Angeles where she runs the Major Crimes Division of the L.A.P.D.
Over the years, Brenda has worked hard to earn the trust and respect of her crew, but much of what has earned her that loyalty has also caused numerous headaches for the powers that be. Season seven sees those issues come to a head as Brenda’s questionable actions have resulted in a lawsuit being filed against her and the city. Much of season seven, in addition to the weekly cases, focuses on the lawsuit and the fallout from it.
Billy Burke also returns as Philip Stroh, a lawyer that Brenda is certain is a serial rapist and murderer, but has never been able to prove. Burke is masterful and plays every scene with a quiet confidence and an air of a person that knows something that those around him do not. Kyra turns up the volume on the already loud Brenda Leigh and instead seeing her go out of character in her obsession, Kyra subtly plays up the things that have made Brenda abrasive to the point where, while we still like her, we can see why her boss and the DA have issues with her. Kyra seems to slowly turn the heat up to the point where the proverbial water starts to boil.
Overall, season seven is a worthy send-off. There were a few things that bugged me (a secondary storyline that has a mole in the department leaking info in the lawsuit in which the ending was a letdown), but everyone seemed commited to sending the show off in classic fashion and not coast to the finish line.
Jeremy Lynch
